Trade

The bilateral Free Trade Agreement between the Faroe Islands and the United Kingdom entered into force on 1 January 2021. A continuity agreement, it provides for the same tariff regime regarding trade between the Faroe Islands and the United Kingdom as existed prior to the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union under the terms of the bilateral Free Trade Agreement between the Faroe Islands and the European Union.

The Joint Committee established by the Agreement is responsible for ensuring the proper implementation of the Agreement and will meet regularly to consider proposals for amendments and other relevant issues.

With respect to imports from the United Kingdom to the Faroe Islands, all trade in goods is free of tariffs, with the only exceptions being duties on imports of fresh milk and cream products and a 5 tonne tariff free quota of sheep meat (11 tonnes from 2023).

From the Faroe Islands to the United Kingdom, all industrial goods can be imported free of tariffs. Seafood products outlined in Table 1 in the Annex to the Free Trade Agreement are mostly tariff free, with tariff-free quotas currently applying to some fish products.

Provisional exemptions from physical sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) border controls are currently in place.

For imports from the Faroe Islands to the UK, British authorities have confirmed that Faroese imports that are fully harmonised with EU SPS standards and are currently able to be exported to the EU will be eligible for the UK’s phased import arrangements.

This means that fishery products from the Faroe Islands can continue to be imported into the UK without additional health certification or border inspection until further notice.  UK authorities have advised that new UK health certificates and procedures for border inspection will not be implemented until 2023, at the earliest

Pre-notification of all imports of animal products is required, using the Import of products, animals, food and feed system (IPAFFS).

Further details and updates regarding requirements for imports of goods to the UK are outlined on the UK Government’s website.

See also the UK Government’s guidance on Importing or moving fish to the UK, which is regularly updated.

For imports from the UK to the Faroe Islands, the regulations providing for veterinary controls of animal products imported to the Faroe Islands have been amended to include a provisional exemption for physical checks on food from the UK originating from terrestrial animals, as well as feed from terrestrial animals.

Notwithstanding these provisional exemptions from physical border controls, all imports of animals and animal products to the Faroe Islands from the UK should be notified in advance to the Faroese Food and Veterinary Authority and should be accompanied by a health certificate. Import to the Faroe Islands of feed for aquaculture and live aquatic animals will follow regulations similar to EU regulations.

The Government of the Faroe Islands will give priority to concluding an agreement with the UK on SPS requirements for trade in products of animal origin in order to maintain high mutual standards of food safety while also encouraging the further development of bilateral trade.